WADE - A tractor-trailer carrying about 180 hogs overturned this morning on an exit ramp to Interstate 95 at the Outer Loop interchange just north of Fayetteville, the Highway Patrol said.

The wreck, around 8:30 a.m., slowed traffic in the southbound lane for several hours, said Trooper D.A. Lindsay.

The driver, whose name was not available, was taking the hogs from Prestage Farms Inc. in Clinton to the Smithfield Co. Inc. packaging plant in Tar Heel, Lindsay said.

As the the driver rounded the curve onto the ramp, the load shifted, causing the trailer to overturn, Lindsay said.

About 30 hogs died in the crash, he said. A few hogs got loose immediately afterward, but were quickly rounded up, Lindsay said.

The truck was lying across the two southbound lanes, and traffic was reduced to a single lane on the highway shoulder to get by the wreck.

The highway was closed for about 1 1/2hours as the truck was pulled to an upright position, Lindsay said.

The hogs were loaded onto another truck that was called to the scene, Lindsay said.

The driver was not injured, Lindsay said. The driver was not employed by Prestage Farms, but worked for a trucking company.

The Fayetteville Observer had originally reported that Prestage Farms had been cited by the Highway Patrol, but reported on Friday that the owner of the trucking company contracted by Prestage Farms was cited instead, according to the Highway Patrol.